Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit started in 1893 as a hand-drawn letter to Noel Moore, the five-year-old son of her former governess, who was ill. Potter sketched pictures and wrote a story to cheer him up, and that letter became the first Peter Rabbit tale. The rabbit was named after a pet Potter had as a child, whom she called Peter Piper. A trade edition appeared in June 1903 from Frederick Warne & Co, and 28,000 copies were in print by the end of that year. The tale has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, and the six-book series more than 150 million across 35 languages.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.